Back on track. Bayeux, babies and blocks.

First our internet was so incredibly slow due to change overs with the server, so I just posted to FB.

I taught for a week a few days after I came home and had a few issues with my health (I tore the anterior meniscus in my knee falling off a chair in Mexico) !!!! so with those things combined, it’s taken me a while to get back to a daily blog.

But it begins again.

After a year of problems we now have NBN, (faster internet) and I can add photos and videos without having to wait for ages for it to upload.

This week, I’m preparing photos to accompany my quilts at the Paducah Show. It’s quite exciting to present an exhibition such as this and I decided to actually create a portrait in thread rather than just add a photo of myself.

Could I do it? I never know, I just throw myself into the mix and go for it.

I had a black and white photo and I decided to change it to a sketch effect by using an app on my iPad called Sketchmee2.

Using that sketch as a guide I sketched my portrait onto white fabric with pencil. My friend Claudia Pfeil gave me a wonderful tin of german charcoals and pencils and I knew this was the perfect way to use them.

It worked well. I was able to sketch it quickly and then I set about collecting the thread colors from my stash to match the photo and my sketch.

You don’t realise there are so many shades of grey.

Some are blue grey, some were brown grey. I used 50 weight cotton thread from Aurifil.

But I just decided to go for it.

I wanted a sketch effect not the fine portraits I normally do in thread painting so I used a free motion Zig Zag. 1.4 stitch width, 1.4 stitch length, with the feed dogs up.

At each sitting it improved…. I was beginning to despair a little for a while in the beginning.

However, it wasn’t as free as I wanted it… but I continued in my own style. “Just do the detail Pamela.”

I added the black line to the left of the image, balance by a small line on the right hand cheek. and then black lines to complete the garments.

It’s quilted in my own negative space style in versus shades of grey and white.

Great portrait Pam Loved the red glasses! ( I always think of you when I see red or orange frames now!!!) and thanks for sharing how you crafted it, great tutorial and I learnt so much Mostly not to try it my self LOL Cheers Glenda

Thankyou for inspiration Pam,
I am trying to do a portrait for my BinL and nothing seems to be working.He is just a regular “guy” not as easy as my quilt of a certain “Not my President” So here is another avenue to try.
Prue Wheal